World Water Day – 22 March ’08
Sometimes I get sick of the relentless stream of bad news that comes our way. I feel like we are always being bombarded with terrible statistics on the dire state of the world – poverty, disease, corruption, environmental destruction… I know it’s true and we need to know this stuff, but it can make it seem like the world’s problems are too huge to even begin to solve, and that the billions of dollars in aid poured into the developing world are not actually making any difference. After a while you start going
“Well, this aid thing has been going on for decades, I’ve donated thousands over the years and nothing seems to be changing – so what’s the point?”
But actually, in many parts of the world, things are improving.
Brief case-study: Water
Over the last 15 years, over 1.2 billion people have gained access to improved drinking water through the efforts of UNICEF alone. And the World Health Organisation’s cost-benefit analysis on water and sanitation shows that for every dollar spent, the average returns are valued at between $3 and $34, depending on the region. That’s pretty good economics!
Global coverage of safe drinking water increased from 78 % to 83 % between 1990 and 2004. And global access to basic sanitation has risen from 49 % in 1990 to 59 % today, with
These stats are no reason to become complacent, but it’s so encouraging and motivating to know that we are making a difference. We do still have a really long way to go -1 in 6 people still lack access to safe water and 2.6 billion lack basic sanitation, putting people at risk of diarrhoea, cholera and heaps of other potentially fatal water-borne diseases – but we can do it! Take a look at these sites for info on World Water Day and your chance to make a difference:
P.S. I’ve just come across a site that lets you calculate your annual water consumption (or your “water footprint”). It’s an interesting site, but I found it hard to estimate my weekly consumption of different types of food in kilogrammes. Also, the site lacks any relative measures, and I think it would be useful to show what the main things are that you could do to lower your consumption. Definitely still worth checking out though.
If anyone knows of better sites to calculate water footprints it’d be great if you could put it in comments below!
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